NY Times: Tell Us Why It’s Ethical to Eat Meat

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Teresa Trujillo

The New York Times Magazine is running a contest titled Tell Us Why it is Ethical to Eat Meat. You’ve got to read the article that introduces the “contest.” The only prize is having your essay printed in the magazine. I think the contest is ridiculous, but I had to send in my entry:

I know my place in the food chain, and I take my steak medium rare.

The majority of humans do not need to write modern volumes to justify eating meat. The historical evidence shows man evolved as an omnivore. The question posed by the NY Times’ ethicist differs from the prevailing patterns of human evolution, behavior, and consumption.

Humans have eaten meat for at least 2.5 million years according to the fossil records available for review. The earliest cave paintings in France were of man hunting. Ancient Egyptian burial chambers were filled with paintings of the type of food the ancients hunted, cultivated, and consumed—and meat was an integral part of the ancient cultures that we have records to review.

Even early biblical writings in Genesis are about man’s dominion over all of the animal kingdom. The story of Caine and Abel turns on herding and providing meat for consumption.

“Those who love meat have had surprisingly little to say,” is a direct quote from this contest’s information webpage. This is an odd comment from a paper where the food section has run meat recipes for generations—no apology required. A newspaper which runs a column by Mark Bittman and regularly turns to Michael Pollan, author of the bestselling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, for commentary on the food we eat. Pollan’s books are a defense on the human connection to the consumption of meat even though he writes extensively on the sins of the modern factory farm.

The majority of practitioners in any arena rarely need to write defensive manifestos to support their practices. I’m just surprised that Ariel Kaminer reading table is filled with the works of those promoting vegetarianism rather than the works of omnivores like Julia Child, James Bacon, Sally Fallon, Dr. Weston Price, Dr. William Campbell Douglas, Joel Salatin, Mark Bittman, and Michael Pollan or any other number of experts who have written books on the benefits and proper preparation of a meat and vegetable diet.

Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, a book with about 250,000 volumes in print writes about the “Diet Dictocrats.” The wording and title of this contest would certainly be described as dictocratic in its framing.

Nourishing Traditions points out that there were very few diet related health issues at the dawn of the 1900’s. Food and dietary related health issues started rising when the government started pushing certain agricultural agendas on the public. And the Omnivore’s Dilemma has linked the rise in government subsidized corn production with increases of many dietary health issues.

Today’s consumer is faced with fewer and fewer choices for finding healthful food in an era where the production, processing, distribution, and retailing of food is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. We live in a land of plenty which is controlled by a shrinking number of individuals—which is most troubling in today’s food marketplace.

Vegetarianism proponents are the noisy new kids on the playground. The few decades of nutritional records that they bring to the discussion do not override the millenniums of history, experience, and data derived on the omnivore diet.

Yes, the NY Times’ ethicist’s question shows she is surely a proponent of the meat free diet. She is a jingoistic supporter of the vocal minority’s position.  It appears this minority thinks that whoever makes the loudest and most obnoxious argument has the winning position. Yet, history, human evolution, the majority of current dietary research, her own newspaper, and the marketplace all say that the human diet includes meat.

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Posted in Agriculture, Background, Books, Education, Environmentalism, Ethical Eating, Food, Gardening, Healthcare, Humor, Meat, Media, Nutrition, Political Realities, Rural Living, USDA, Vegetarianism, cooking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Teresa Trujillo

How many Obama supporters does it take to change a lightbulb?

Buy a T-shirt that tells it like it is. http://www.cafepress.com/goathillfarms

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Posted in 2012 Elections, Economics, Education, Environmentalism, FDA, Family, Food, Food Costs, Healthcare, Humor, Inflation, International Trade, Money and Finance, Nanny State, Obama Administration, Political Realities, SB510, Social Security, Social Security, USDA, USDA, Welfare/Social Spending | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forgiveness and forgetting are two separate things

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Teresa Trujillo

God doesn’t want me, or you the reader, to continue to harm ourselves by associating with those who do harm.

“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God–I say this to your shame.” 1Corinthians 15:33-34

God hasn’t always given me people who I wanted in my life. Sometimes the Godly message I needed to hear was delivered by someone hurtful in my life. I’ve learned there is grace—a gift from God—in personal pain and it takes a great deal of prayer and reflection to see the gift before me. I pray and meditate on the people, places, and things in life that have been hurtful. The prayer practice that I use is based on the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Prayer has revealed many lessons—gifts in many ways—that I never understood until I slowed my life down enough to appreciate the power of prayer.

To forget what someone has done to you–especially if there is a history of repeated offenses–only creates a victim. I have also been made aware through prayer of powerful repeating themes and patterns in my life that are damaging and hurtful. This acceptance of my nature, when I find myself in situations that can prove hurtful, has taught me to be strong and resolute in my efforts to break these patterns.

I’ve gotten better at seeing the rising storm of trouble and avoiding the heartache and personal pain when I placed my trust and faith in someone whose motivations are not in my best interest. My best interest is focusing on my single hearted desire to pursue whatever leads me closer to God.

I continually ask the question—does this person, place or thing lead me closer to God?

There is nothing in the bible that says we should allow ourselves to be victims.

I’ve been told, sometimes asked, to turn the other cheek—but I only have two cheeks. I had a priest tell me recently that there is nothing in the bible that allows someone to treat me like a doormat.

I’ve learned instead of just “forgetting” the hurt someone has caused in my life, in need to communicate my feelings of hurt, abandonment, disillusion, and pain to God and the hurtful people in my life. I’ve prayed for change and I’ve prayed for healing. Additionally, I’m learning to turn the challenges in this life over to God. This is actually a much harder task to learn than I thought it would be.

“But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. “ Luke 12:2-3

Some of the people who have been purposefully hurtful to me have refused to change. They are free to live their life, and I am willing to live a life free of their ongoing dramas. I continue to pray for these people because this is a very loving act. I pray they find their own way to hear and accept God in their life; I pray that they learn the value of honesty in all of their life’s dealings; and I pray they learn to live a life that doesn’t hurt others around them.

Living a life focused on faith and a closeness to God through prayer and meditation has revealed that God actually wants me to live free from those who cause emotional and physical pain in my life.

It was a painful reality that to move forward in my relationship with God I had to let go of the people who were attacking me by attacking my values. I learned that certain people had anchored me to an emotional, physical, and spiritual place where the only way to move forward was to break loose from hurtful people in my life.

I’m hopeful in the fact that God answers prayers. If and when the people I’ve prayed for can offer a sincere apology–again, a very loving act–I can open my life to them. Yes, I might find that I’m opening my trustful self to the potential of more harm, but it is a risk that I am willing to take once they have asked for forgiveness.

I am willing to believe in the potential of real change in someone else’s life that can be celebrated in my life.

“I’m sorry,” are just words. A sincere apology has five components: express regret, accept responsibility, make restitution, genuinely repent, and request forgiveness. Restitution doesn’t always mean monetary compensation. Restitution could mean trying to set the relationship straight or repair the damage done by the egregious behavior. I have experienced the gift of sincere and heartfelt apologies which has led to more fulfillment in my personal relationships.

As a Catholic, I believe in the power of a sacramental confession. I’ve been taught that a confession to God through a priest has the five components of a sincere apology. My sins are forgiven and my soul is cleansed when I commit to the five components of a sincere apology. God is revealed not just in the words of the confession, but in the acts in my life—a living out of my convictions—is the best example of my commitment to God, marriage, family, community, country, and the world—in that order.

Humans are not God. I don’t have the ability to reach into someone’s heart and change it unconditionally–that is God’s job. I am not God. God can forgive all sin. I can work towards a Godly life, but I am still not God, and I don’t believe God put me on this earth to live a life of suffering at someone else’s whim.

I can still control who I choose to spend my days with, and I choose not to spend my time with someone who has focused their discontent on me.

Forgiveness is an important component in moving on in life. Yes—I forgive! But modern culture and group think tells me to marry forgiveness with forgetting. Yet, they are not the same act. I can forgive and forget the minor rudeness, the careless words, and the instant pain of a small disrespect. I cannot simply forget an all-out assault on who I am and my core beliefs. I need to see change in actions and behavior when their assaults have been designed to move my away from my relationship with God.

My strong relationship with God is a threat to a non-believer.

The question is whether or not I “forgive and forget” the person who lies as a way to manipulate everyone around them? What about the person who deceives others for their own personal gain? Someone who lies, deceives, and manipulates people of conscience into doing something against Christian values and hurts others as a means to an end—this is not someone who can be a positive influence in my life, this is not someone helping me live a life in God’s light. So I pray for them.

It is as important to pray for those who have hurt me as it is to pray for those who have helped me and love me. It is a loving act to pray for someone. Pray they have a change of heart; pray they have a change of behavior; pray they have a change spirit; pray they see the light.

Temptation is in front of me at all times. God has given me the gift of self-determination and I have the right to choose well or to choose temptation. Temptation is anything leads me away from the path of God in daily living.

There are people I will never stop loving but can’t allow to inhabit my life. I strive to be better in all areas of my life and I’ve stopped following anyone—even someone I love—into their personal dark abyss. Their life of woe and drama is not in God’s plan for me.

God wants all of us to live in the light of his love—not the darkness of someone else’s life. There is great love in living a life in the light and being a bright shining example to anyone who doesn’t have God’s hope in their heart. I want to show others my light rather than accompanying them to their dark place. I want to be a beacon of God’s hope for us all.

I have one single hearted desire in this life, and it is to do whatever leads me closer to God. If that means I have to walk away from the people that have proven to be “bad company’ in my life I have made the decision to do so. At the same time, I welcome anyone who chooses to join me in a life bathed in God’s love.

Yes, bad company does corrupt good character. I live in a world where someone has the right to do evil acts. The challenge is how do I personally respond to someone else’s bad behavior? I will choose what I believe God would want me to do. I will pray, reflect, and listen to the messages that God sends me in my daily life. All too often the message is very counter to what the media and others tell me I should do. I will make the more difficult choice and follow my heart–and my heart belongs to God.

While I am writing about forgiveness I have a confession. The hardest person to forgive in my own life has been me. I find it incredibly difficult to forgive myself, forget the pain, and move forward in my own life. I find comfort in the knowledge that I am both broken and beloved in God’s eyes and I am grateful for the lessons I have learned along the way.

I look forward to others joining me along the way and sharing our journey on God’s path. I will look for the signposts that God places along my personal path and spend time discerning what God wants for me.

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Film Review: Farmageddon

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

Filmmaker Kristen Canty has made an eye-opening documentary on the government’s efforts to undermine sustainable small farms across the country.

Joe and I drove to Santa Monica to see the limited showing of a powerful documentary on the sustainable food movement and the government’s attack on small producers. I walked away with the very powerful words of Pastor Martin Niemöller ringing in my ear.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

I was aware of the Rawsome Food Cooperative raid . And I recently became aware of the $4 million fine that a Missouri family was assessed for selling more than $500 worth of bunnies to the local amusement park. The Dollarhite family gave up their rabbitry after the USDA took issue with the $4,600 in annual sales of bunnies. You can read more about their story here.

Farmageddon did an excellent job of portraying the terror that several small farm families felt when armed inspectors and law enforcement agencies descended on their farms to confiscate raw milk and/or healthy livestock. The overwhelming power of a government agency to undermine small farmers providing healthful alternatives to the corporate food offerings was sobering because Joe and I have a dream to join the movement towards sustainable farming.

Joel Salatin and Polyface Farms figured prominently in this film. I consider his family’s farming operation to be a model for what I would like to do.

Filmmaker Canty introduces herself at the beginning of the film as a mother of four who has been frustrated by a crackdown on the raw milk producer that she has been purchasing milk from. She has turned her frustration into an excellent film.

You can find trailers and more information on this fine film here.

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Farmageddon: Wake Up America!

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

Farmageddon – Movie Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

I’ve been reading and hearing about SWAT style raids on food producers and organic cooperatives for a couple of years now. I’ve posted links to a few of the reports here on this blog. Here is a brave filmmaker who is exposing what is happening around the country to the U.S. food system.

Food Inc. was a documentary that came out a couple of years ago and exposed much of what has been taking place. Farmers are such a minority in the country today that the systematic destruction of their rural lifestyle in favor of the every growing multi-national corporate control of the food distribution system is alarming.

There are elements of the recently passed Food Safety Modernization Act that gives sweeping power to the federal government–even the power to regulated a backyard garden and how a citizen can share the bounty of their own kitchen garden with their neighbors and friends.

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Posted in Agriculture, Contamination, Documentary, Environmentalism, Ethical Eating, FDA, Farmers' Market, Films, Food, Food Recalls, Food Safety, Food Safety Modernization Act, Gardening, Homeland Security, International Trade, Locovore, Media, Money and Finance, Nanny State, Nutrition, Political Realities, Rural Living, USDA, USDA, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The DIY projects just keep confounding

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

It’s been a year since Joe and I decided to sell our Metropolitan Los Angeles home and move to a rural setting in Kentucky. The progress towards readying the house and ourselves for a radical lifestyle change has had so many fits and starts along the way that I couldn’t possibly list them all.

I’ve lived in this home for twenty years, and Joe joined me here seven years ago with his young son. We’ve spent months going through closets and garage donating goods and materials that we saved–often for reasons unknown. I’m moving on to de-cluttering the kitchen cabinets right now. I know I have to find new homes for duplicate cookware and glassware. The local Goodwill store has benefited with the donations of many hundreds of pounds of our unnecessary acquisitions. So much of what is donated, thrown away, or given to others has some memory attached to it.

Part of me wishes we had the purchase price of these goods back in our bank account. Every time I donate something I calculate how much money I spent on it, how much it was used, and whether or not the purchase was worth it in the mental ledger I’ve been keeping. I don’t think I could actually commit this information to paper because it would mean that I would have to “own” the fact that I have practices some very wasteful spending practices.

The son is now a U.S. Marine readying for an Afghanistan deployment stationed at Camp Pendleton a short drive from our suburban home. Joe is a combat veteran who is very distracted by a teen-aged son being sent to a war. While we are proud of Chris’ career choice of the Corps, we are troubled by the thought of someone we love going off the war.

Joe and I still work hard to build our empty nest lifestyle and home. It is amazing how much time, talent, and treasure is freed up when you’re not supporting the needs, wishes, and wants of a teenager. It’s also a new experience to learn how to talk to each other when every conversation doesn’t start with “Chris….”

We are working on all of these home improvement projects that I wish we had done for ourselves. The new closet organizing system is really great and didn’t cost much. The fresh paint that is going onto walls that last saw a paintbrush 20 years ago is bright and cheery for somebody else. The new flooring that we will install will be used by someone else. I’m turning this home into something I hope someone else will be very proud of–and I wish I had done this for myself.

I’ve also had a couple of injuries along the way. Getting older is not for sissies. The shoulder injury that took three months to heal was a big setback. I took a nasty fall when I was doing paint prep work in the bathroom and was lucky that my guardian angel kept me from killing myself when I slipped and fell off of the bathtub ledge and landed straddling the edge of the tub on all fours. It happened when I was home alone and could have killed myself. There have been assorted other strains and pains that have accompanied the moving.

The spring weather has brought a renewed spirit to the work. I hope we can get to listing the house soon.

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Michael Pollan: The food chain

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

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Ag Gag law close to passing in Iowa–what is there to hide?

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

Big agribusiness concerns in this country are tying to make it unlawful to take pictures of farms and their operating practices. In Florida and Minnesota the state legislators voted down measures that would make it illegal to take pictures of farms. While common sense prevailed in those states, Iowa is moving very close to passing an “Ag Gag” law.

A picturesque drive in the Iowa countryside could become a criminal act if you were to snap a photo on a country road because big ag has a big secret. The pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and machinery needed to produce the mono-culture crops favored by Iowa farmers have big downstream effects as the runoff polluted American rivers.

Confinement animal farming operations (CAFOs) are cruel places where few of us would want to buy our meat and eggs from if we actually knew just how bad the conditions are for many of God’s creatures. It is important to these producers that photos depicting their deplorable conditions are not made public.

The Civil Eats blog has been covering this story, and you can read more about it at http://civileats.com/2011/06/13/what-does-agribusiness-have-to-hide-in-iowa/#more-12307

Any law the impedes on the First Amendment rights of Americans to travel, report, photograph, and inform the general public is wrong. If this law passes, I’m prepared to break the law.

Three years ago I was working on a documentary film on children orphaned by illegal immigration. I was doing a great deal of research and talking with civil rights advocates in Mexico when I learned that it would be nearly impossible to film–and very dangerous as well. In Mexico it is against the law to film images of poverty because it is bad for Mexico’s tourist economy. These ag gag laws assume that taking pictures of farms is bad for Iowa’s economy.

I think the discussion needs to change. If Iowa’s farmers are afraid to have their farms filmed and/or photographed, they need to change their farming practices. They need to farm in a way they can be proud of–not something they want to hide behind laws to practice.

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Posted in Ag Gag laws, Agriculture, Documentary, Education, Films, Food Recalls, Food Safety, Lobbying, Political Realities, Rural Living | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Think about it: Obama and the 2012 Election

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

My mother sent this to me as a forward from an anonymous author. I won’t take credit for writing it, but I think there are some very important points to ponder.

If any other of our presidents had doubled the National Debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had criticized a State Law (AZ SB1070) that he admitted he never even read, would you think that he is just an ignorant hot Head?

If any other of our presidents joined the country of Mexico and sued a U.S. State, to force that State to continue to allow Illegal Immigration, would you question his patriotism and wonder who’s side he was on?

If any other of our presidents had pronounced the Marine Corps as if it were the Marine Corpse, would you think him an Idiot?

If any other of our presidents had put 87,000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry
because one foreign company had an accident, would you have agreed?

If any other of our presidents had used a forged document as the basis of the moratorium that would render 87,000 American workers unemployed, would you support him?

If any other of our presidents had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If any other of our presidents had spent hundreds of thousands of Dollars to take his First Lady to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had reduced your retirement plan holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly format ted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had given the Queen of England an IPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought it to be a proud moment for America ?

If any other of our presidents had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If any other of our presidents had filled his Cabinet and circle of Advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their Income Taxes, would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , wouldn’t you have had second thoughts about his capabilities?

If any other of our presidents would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in his hometown (Chicago), would you not have thought he was a self-important, conceited , egotistical jerk?

If any other of our presidents had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was “The 5th of May” (Cinco de Mayo), and then continue to flub it when he tried again, wouldn’t you have winced in embarrassment?

If any other of our presidents had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he’s a Hypocrite?

If any other of our presidents’ Administrations had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If any other of our presidents had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest, with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing Political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If any other of our presidents had created the positions of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?

Can’t think of anything? Then you’d better start worrying. He’s done all these things in 28 months — and you have less than 19 months to come up with an answer.

Every statement and action in this note is factual and correctly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.
I WONDER …… HOW MANY OF YOU WILL FORWARD THIS?

“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

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Posted in 2012 Elections, Border Issues, Economics, Environmentalism, Government Debt, Inflation, Money and Finance, Obama Administration, Political Realities, Tax Policy, Welfare/Social Spending | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

You can read me anything: The Book of Love

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Teresa Trujillo

Joe at the Bigelow Bridge, December 2010Between Mother’s Day, my birthday, and our wedding anniversary we spend a lot of time celebrating me!

This year is my 50th birthday and our seventh wedding anniversary. There have been a few bumps along the way, and the last year has been bumpier than most.

We’ve learned a lot about ourselves and our marriage. It hasn’t been an easy year, but we are much stronger for our shared experience. Marriage is work, and anybody who thinks differently–who takes their marriage and partner for granted–risks losing their most important relationship.

“The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life, is that you’re happy with me. If I couldn’t, if I couldn’t tell you that I was unhappy sometimes, is because I didn’t want to risk hurting the one person I treasure most. I’m so sorry.” Richard Gere’s character, John Clark, in the movie Shall We Dance.

I don’t recommend most marriages go through what we have been through in the last year or two. I think marriage is important, and too many couples give up too easily when the going gets tough because we live in a culture that doesn’t value marriage. There is a prevailing cultural message that it is easier to walk away when the marriage is challenged rather than roll-up your sleeves and work to save what used to be cherished.

The cultural message that has dominated books, movies, and media is that we should pursue happiness at all costs. In truth, marriages and families are not always happy. Joe and I have been through a lot in the last few years. My brother died unexpectedly, followed by the death of Joe’s dad seven weeks later. It is fair to say that we were overwhelmed by grief. In a perfect world, partners are better able to support one another. But, when both of you are grieving tremendous losses it is easy to lose sight of the person sitting next to you.

In our grief we went through a period of time when we just couldn’t communicate. Even the simple courtesies seemed to disappear and a question about daily activities could turn into an ugly fight. Just as we were getting our feet back under us and our relationship, the teenager in the house started making life choices that affected Joe and I. Joe’s loyalties were badly tested. A secret that was hard for Joe to keep for his son, turned into a lie. As the teenager left our home to start his life as a newly minted adult, our marriage lost the common goal it was established to achieve. We had raised a young boy to manhood, but we were having trouble navigating the new world of empty nesters.

Secrets and lies are what feed the dysfunction in any family. Every family has something that eats at their structure and undermines the core values of the family. In our case the secrets and lies were like termites eating away at the house. At first the damage was very small and unseen behind a facade that looked good to the casual viewer. We were no longer distracted by parenthood and suddenly our emotional home began to crumble. We had to invest a great deal of time and effort to fix what would have been a small problem. We could no longer ignore the damage to the walls and foundation of our marriage.

Blessings are often wrapped in our personal tragedies and are often very hard to see and recognize. We needed help to find our blessing in disguise, and we found it in Retrouvaille.

I’ve included a video clip from the movie Shall We Dance. The movie is about a middle aged man going through a mid-life crisis. He secretly enrolls in ballroom dance lessons after he sees a beautiful dance instructor staring out of a dance studio window. His secretive behavior causes his wife to believe he is having an affair. She hires a private investigator to find out what is happening in her husband’s life. The clip is chosen from the end of the movie, after the husband realizes how close he came to losing the most important things in his life. Listen to the words of the title song The Book of Love by Peter Gabriel. They are so haunting, so real.
The Book of Love – Peter Gabriel – Shall we… by T2000-TT

The Book of Love Lyrics

The book of love is long and boring

No one can lift the damn thing
It’s full of charts and facts and figures,
and instructions for dancing
But I
I love it when you read to me
And you
You can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that’s where music comes from
Some of it’s just transcendental
Some of it’s just really dumb
But I
I love it when you sing to me
And you
You can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It’s full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we’re all too young to know
But I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
You ought to give me wedding rings

This year I am celebrating that my husband and I learned to read each other again.

I am also celebrating that I have learned to trust God in a much deeper and meaningful way. I am able to turn over more of my problems and challenges to God in the form of prayer and I have learned to listen through meditation to what God has in store for me. Learning to meditate and listen to the inner messages has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’ve learned that my emotions are a gift from God and not to push them away, but to feel the power of all of my emotions.

I’m hitting the half-century mark. I want to take what I’ve learned into the next chapter of my life.

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Posted in Background, Emotions, Family, Media, Prayer, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment